Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2015-06-24-Speech-1-277-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20150624.29.1-277-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, last autumn, Europe was rocked by the LuxLeaks scandal. We discovered that Member States had been secretly agreeing deals with multinational corporations to allow them to avoid tax. Corporations were playing a game of divide and conquer with EU governments, and the losers were the people of Europe. It was only because of the actions of the brave whistleblower Antoine Deltour that we found out about this. The Commission had looked the other way. In spite of President Juncker’s promises to act, it was clear that this was through desperation rather than desire, and the outcomes have been disappointing.
To explore the issue of Member State collusion in tax avoidance, a special committee was set up, and last week we visited London. I must confess I was shocked by the murky and elaborate system of relationships between my capital city and offshore secrecy jurisdictions, where money can be hidden and tax avoided. I think we all have to admit that our countries are involved in these activities that hurt us all and distort the single market. I welcome the Commission’s list of tax havens as a first step to map this hidden world, although there is much further to go.
Two of the clear demands of the Green Group are that corporations should be required to make public how much economic substance is created in which country – so-called country-by-country reporting – and that there should be agreement about how and where corporations are taxed: the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, or CCCTB. These are the minimum requirements we need to prevent countries shifting their profits in the interests of shareholders while depriving the public of the taxes that are necessary to pay for the roads and internet systems the companies use, the schools that educate their staff and the hospitals those staff use when they are ill.
We already have country-by-country reporting for banks, so it is a simple matter to extend this to other sectors. So do we find this in the Commission’s tax package? I am afraid to say we do not. Instead, we have merely a viability study: a classic example of delaying tactics.
Next time we meet as a Parliament in Strasbourg, we will have the chance to vote on this vital transparency proposal, and I sincerely hope we will pass it with a large majority. As for the CCCTB, the Commission is promising to relaunch its proposal, beginning with the common part, so that we all agree what should be taxed. But this means they are delaying the consolidation, the aspect of the proposal that would effectively control profit-shifting and the tax avoidance it facilitates.
The people I represent are appalled that corporations are able to avoid their taxes, which gives them an unfair advantage over local businesses that cannot shift their profits abroad, as well as undermining the public services we depend on. The Commission’s action plan lacks determination and urgency and is a wholly inadequate response to this public outrage."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples